In the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,546 a system is described for transfer of containers to and from flatcars of a freight train halted on a main track, by means of sets of self-propelled transfer vehicles running on ancillary tracks in parallel with the main track, wherein said transfer vehicles are equipped with supporting arms extendable transversely to the tracks enabling movement of a selected container onto such vehicle from a flatcar aligned therewith or, vice versa, from the vehicle to the flatcar. Said supporting arms can extend half of its length to span the main track and to project underneath a container on a flatcar, whereupon the arms are elevated by jacks in order to release the container from stationary sills and to shift it together with the arms moving back on the corresponding transfer vehicle and resting on said vehicle. Moreover, the container can be transferred between transfer vehicles on neighbouring tracks, and between a transfer vehicle and a roadside truck.
Said system faces balance problems during transfer operations that are counteracted by means of railhead-gripping jaws on the transfer vehicles.